Jen Randall is a director and editor who aims to empower, entertain, and challenge viewers with intricately woven, emotive narratives and a quiet sense of fun. Her work has been awarded more than 40 major prizes at international mountain film festivals, been sold for broadcast, gained large online followings, and has been distributed across international cinemas.

She often quests into the wilds on adventures inspired by her subjects, from long-distance walks to big walls.

Amy Bench is a Texas-based filmmaker and visual artist who tells stories of community and resilience and is dedicated to serving as a conduit for marginalized voices. Trained as a cinematographer, Amy’s camera work has screened at festivals including Berlin, SXSW, Sundance, The New York Film Festival, and MOMA/PS1; in 2016 she was named a “DP on the Rise” by Paste magazine.

She was the cinematographer on Trans in America: Texas Strong, which won an Emmy for Best Original Short Documentary in 2019 and two Webby Awards. Amy’s animated documentary A Line Birds Cannot See won Special Jury Recognition at SXSW and is now available at the New Yorker, where it won the 2020 Ellie Award (video) for excellence in digital magazine journalism. She is a member of the art collective ICOSA and is a strong advocate for women behind and in front of the lens.

Samantha Sanders has written, produced, and directed documentary programs for networks including National Geographic, the History Channel, MSNBC, A&E, and PBS. She directed Emmy-winning short documentaries including Purpose Over Pain, centered around families who have lost children to gun violence.

Along with her husband, editor John Farbrother, Samantha founded and runs Green River Films, an Emmy-award-winning Chicago-based production company. Samantha teaches film at Columbia College Chicago, where she received an MFA in filmmaking, and at DePaul University. She is a passionate landscape photographer, whose love of shooting Lake Michigan drew her to this project.

Akanksha Cruczynski, based in New York City, is a writer and filmmaker from India who grew up in Saudi Arabia. She moved to the U.S. for college, then studied comedy at The Second City, iO Theater, and Annoyance Theatre  in Chicago. Akanksha’s graduate thesis film, Close Ties to Home Country, is a finalist for the Student Academy Awards and was shortlisted for the 2021 BAFTA Student Awards. The film won the Audience Award at Aspen Shortsfest and the Best Comedy Award at Indy Shorts International Film Festival, in addition to being shown at several other Academy Award–qualifying film festivals. Akanksha is passionate about telling stories from underserved communities and using humor to guide them.

Samantha Knowles is a Dartmouth College graduate and Brooklyn-based documentary filmmaker. Her film Tangled Roots follows the only Black woman in the Kentucky state legislature as she fights to dismantle a system of discrimination against Black people penalized for something seemingly innocuous—their hair. It premiered on BET in June 2020, was broadcast on Showtime, and was an official selection in the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. She directed The Blue Line, which examines the controversy that erupted when her hometown painted a blue line on the street in support of police. It premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, was featured in NBC’s Meet the Press Film Festival, and is now part of the prestigious New York Times Op-Doc series.

Samantha also directed the award-winning short documentary Why Do You Have Black Dolls? (2012), which focuses on a small community of Black doll creators, curators, and collectors and examines the history and significance of the Black doll. The film has been an official selection in numerous film festivals, and among other publications was featured in the New York Daily News, USA Today, Jet magazine, the Huffington Post, theGrio, and BET.com. 

Emily McAllister is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has produced work independently as well as for This American Life, HBO, National Geographic, PBS, and Google. Highlights from her work include Maidentrip (SXSW 2013) and The Diplomat (Tribeca 2015). After beginning her storytelling career in Brooklyn, in 2018 she moved to the beautiful mountain town of Truckee, California. In her spare time, she’s learning to mountain bike and helping her husband Aaron on his mission to make a “passable” New York style bagel at 6500’ elevation. 

Meg Shutzer is a queer, award-winning documentary filmmaker and investigative reporter from Oakland, California. Her first documentary, “New Generation Queens: a Zanzibar Soccer Story,” premiered at the Manhattan Film Festival in 2015, played on four continents, and won numerous awards at film festivals.

Holly Morris has told, and championed, pro-woman stories on the global stage for two decades. She is an internationally known filmmaker, author, and presenter (works include “Adventure Divas” and “Globe Trekker.”)

Her most recent film, “The Babushkas of Chernobyl” (lauded as "an affectionate and stirring documentary" by The New York Times), premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where it won the Jury Award for Directing, the first of nearly two dozen awards received before being broadcast worldwide. The film’s story, which is based on Morris’s print journalism and also forms the basis of her popular TED Talk, is about a defiant community of women who live inside Ukraine’s radioactive “Exclusion Zone.”

Her newest feature film, a high stakes Arctic documentary called “Exposure”, will be released in 2021.

Sharon Shattuck is an Emmy-nominated documentary film/TV director and cohost of the podcast “Conviction: American Panic” from Gimlet/Spotify. She's the cocreator of the New York Times Op-Docs science series, “Animated Life,” which was nominated for a 2016 Creative Arts Emmy. 

Her work has appeared on PBS, National Geographic Channel, Netflix, Slate, Vice, The New York Times Op-Docs, The Atlantic, ProPublica, Spotify, and Radiolab. She has degrees in forest ecology and journalism.

Maria Finitzo is a two-time Peabody Award–winning social issue documentary filmmaker whose 30 years as a filmmaker has resulted in a body of work that has won every major broadcast award, including most recently the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, and has been screened in festivals and theaters around the world.

Her films are novelistic in their structure, providing multiple points of connection for an audience. She allows the narrative arc of her character’s story to evolve, colliding with other subjects from the film, creating a complex, nuanced story that serves as a vehicle to deepen our understanding of society through everyday human drama.

Brittany “B. Monét” Fennell is a writer/director who hails from Silver Spring, Maryland. She graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta with a BA in English and holds an MFA from New York University in Film and Television with a concentration in writing and directing. In her films, she poses questions about identity, society, race, and culture. It is vital to her that underrepresented people are shown in film, media, and television.

Her award-winning short film Q.U.E.E.N. has screened at dozens of festivals, including Cannes Short Film Corner, and premiered on Magic Johnson’s channel, ASPiRE. Additionally, she was a runner-up in Women and Hollywood’s First Time Female Filmmakers Contest.

For more about B. Monét, please visit www.bmonetcreations.com.  

Jeannie Donohoe is an award-winning filmmaker based in New York and Los Angeles. She has written and directed several short films, including Game, which screened at more than 200 festivals and received 70 international awards, including two Oscar-qualifying awards at Raindance and the New York International Children’s Film Festival (NYICFF), a Cannes Bronze Lion, and a Vimeo Staff Pick. Lambing Season was selected for more than 50 film festivals and was a winner at Aspen Shortsfest. In addition, online publication IndieWire named Lambing Season one of the Best Short Films of 2014, and it was featured on the PBS series Film School Shorts. Her film Public was shown at Palm Springs ShortFest and on the PBS series ImageMakers.

Donohoe was selected from among more than 4,600 applicants to write and direct Game through the Lexus Short Films program.

Donohoe earned her MFA with honors in Directing from Columbia University. She attended Dartmouth College as an undergraduate and earned an MS in Education while teaching middle school in the Bronx through the Teach for America program. Donohoe is currently developing her first feature-length film.  

Bola Ogun is a first generation Nigerian-American, an alum of the University of North Texas, and based in Los Angeles. She was selected for the class of 2014 AFI Directing Workshop for Women, the inaugural class for the Ryan Murphy’s Television HALF Mentorship Program, and one of the five filmmakers chosen for Robert Rodriguez’s docuseries REBEL WITHOUT A CREW. Ogun’s second short film ARE WE GOOD PARENTS? had its world premiere at South By Southwest, screened at Outfest, Urbanworld, Napa Valley, Edmonton International, and won top awards at AT&T's SHAPE Event. 

Her first short, THE WATER PHOENIX, supported by two crowdfunding campaigns and a grant from California Institute of Contemporary Arts, screened internationally and received positive reviews from Black Girl Nerds and Shadow And Act. Ogun has also written a guest post for Indiewire titled “Enough with the ‘Black Movies’ Bring on the Black Mermaids,” an essay on bringing intersectionality to Fantasy and Sci-fi films.

Nachman’s 2015 film BATKID BEGINS was bought and distributed by Warner Brothers. Previously, she wrote, directed and co-produced the documentaries WITCH HUNT, which was executive produced by Sean Penn and premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival; LOVE HATE LOVE, which premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival; and THE HUMAN EXPERIMENT, which screened at the IDFA Film Festivals. She has won a number of awards, including three regional Emmy Awards, and more than a dozen Jury and Audience Awards at film festivals. Born and raised in New York, Nachman earned a Master’s Degree from NYU in Broadcast Journalism.

Emily Sheskin is a director who was recently featured in Vimeo’s “10 Groundbreaking Women in Film to Watch in 2017.” Her short films have been featured at festivals across the United States and abroad, such as, but not limited to Hotdocs, Big Sky, and the Tacoma Film Festival. She holds a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and is a member of New York Women in Film & Television, The Film Shop, and IFP. You can learn more about her at emilysheskin.com

Eva is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. In 2000, she won Best Short at the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals with FIVE FEET HIGH AND RISING, a short she cast, edited, and produced. She followed that up with the feature Raising Victor Vargas, which she co-wrote. Since then, she has been working on numerous projects, including Chrome and Paint, which she co-wrote with Ice Cube. She was also one of four writers in Disney’s Writers Program. Most recently, Vives wrote and directed her short film JOIN THE CLUB, which was admitted to the Sundance Film Festival in 2016, among others. She was also a finalist for the 2016 Atlanta Film Festival’s Filmmaker to Watch Award. Vives is a proud Sundance Screenwriters, Directors, and Skywalker Sound Labs fellow and is developing her feature, NINA, about a stand up comedian who has to deal with her past to move forward. She is also a proud Sundance Institute Academy Nicholl Honoree.

Veena Rao is a director and producer based in Brooklyn. Her films have screened at festivals worldwide, have been featured on publications such as The Atlantic, and National Geographic, and have aired on the Documentary Channel and Current TV. She is an alumna of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and a member of Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, Film Fatales, and the New York Women in Film & Television Documentary Committee.

Susana Casares is a Spanish filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Before moving to the US she completed a BA in Translation and Interpreting and a BFA in Fine Arts with a special focus in Video Art and Photography. In 2012, she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, having received a scholarship from La Caixa Foundation.

Winner of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences prestigious College Television Award in Drama, her narrative and documentary work has been shown in festivals and art institutions around the world. Susana received both the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award and the Mary Pickford Award for two consecutive years, as well as the support of institutions such as the Tribeca Film Institute and IDFA. She is a Berlinale Talent Campus participant, a Telluride fellow, and a Film Independent fellow. Susana was showcased in Variety’s 2013 Cannes edition as one of the 10 Spanish talents on the rise.

Before moving to Los Angeles, she was Head of Production at Docs Barcelona Pitching Forum and she taught Art History at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She has taught Film Production, Directing, and Documentary Filmmaking at the UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television, at UCLA Extension and at the NYFA in Los Angeles.

Angela Alford is a first-time filmmaker and lifetime basketball player. She played for USA Basketball and for Vanderbilt University from 1994-1997. After a career as a software engineer and a motherhood sabbatical, she started her own video production company in 2007. Her love of telling personal narratives led her into documentary work. Angela graduated from Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies in 2011. GRANNY'S GOT GAME is her first film.

Amanda Zackem is a director, photographer, cinematographer and editor originally from Buffalo, NY. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Illustration Photography and Multimedia from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
She was the Producer of the documentaries The TRIAL OF THE ST.PATRICK'S FOUR (’06) and BLIND SPOT (’08), as well as the dramatic feature length narrative, THINLY VEILES, (‘09). 

She recently directed and photographed a short experimental film which accompanies her photographic series, "The Black Series", and is currently working on a feature length documentary about artist and former Weezer bassist, Mikey Welsh. Zackem’s photographic work has been shown in both national and international magazines.

Sasha Collington graduated in 2009 from the MA in Filmmaking at the London Film School. She won a Skillset Bursary, a Postgraduate Bursary from South West Screen and a John Brabourne Award to attend the two-year MA. After graduating, Sasha was selected for the Binger Writers Lab in Amsterdam, where she spent five months developing her feature film project, ANOTHER ANNA, a romantic-comedy-magical-realism-fable about learning to like yourself. Sasha is also currently developing a feature film with the two characters from her award-winning short, LUNCH DATE. It is a romantic comedy called YOUNG MAN OF THE MOONLIGHT.

Andrea Dorfman is an artist and filmmaker. Her work includes experimental and dramatic short films, two feature films, “PARSLEY DAYS” and “LOVE THAT BOY,” as well as a documentary, “SLUTS,” released in 2005. She’s currently working in animation at the National Film Board of Canada and developing her third feature film, “HARMONY”, with screenwriter Jennifer Deyell. Andrea has also taught film and video at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and is one of four co-creators of “BLOWHARD,” a thematic storytelling series.

Documentary filmmaker, Susan Koenen, is intrigued by non-famous people who can be a role model for audiences. Her films include “LAURA & ANNE 4 EVER,” in which a remarkably strong 14-year-old girl loses her best friend to leukemia, and “THE WILD WILD WEST,” about a man who created a special lurking place for underprivileged children in a multicultural neighborhood in the west of Amsterdam. Susan’s work has screened at numerous film festivals worldwide and she has won several awards for her films.

Lake Bell has numerous acting credits in both film and television. She most recently starred in Parmount’s hit comedy “NO STRINGS ATTACHED,” and will next be seen in “A GOOD OLD FASHIONED ORGY,” which made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival. Past film credits also include Nancy Meyer’s “IT"S COMPLICATED,” “WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS,” and the independent film, “UNDER STILL WATERS,” for which she received the Newport Beach Film Festival award for Outstanding Performance in Acting. On the small screen, Bell can currently be seen in the third season of the Adult Swim series “CHILDREN's HOSPITAL,” created by Rob Corddry. She is also shooting the second season of HBO’s “HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA.” Past television credits include NBC’s “SURFACE,” ABC’s “BOSTON LEGAL,” and NBC’s “MISS MATCH.” 

Jisoo was born in Korea in 1986. She graduated from Korean Animation High school and is currently an MFA student in California Institute of the Arts.

Jen McGowan, born in Washington DC and raised in Fairfax, VA, began her career as a filmmaker in 1997 when she received her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. There,  she trained as an actor at the Atlantic Theater Company where she studied with David Mamet, William H. Macy & Sam Shepard.

After graduating, Jen made the move from acting to writing and directing with her awardwinning short film She Never. During this period, Jen worked her way up the production ladder with some of New York’s top companies such as RSA/Black Dog, A Band Apart, Killer Films and Propaganda. She was fortunate to work on many independent feature films including the Oscar winning Boy's Don't Cry.

In 2002 Jen gained a place to study directing in the MFA program at the University of Southern California. In 2004 Jen directed her first music video, Chelsea Hotel, for artist Karen Ramos, and began production on her thesis film, Confessions of a Late Bloomer. Jen was honored with a grant from The Caucus Foundation for her work on Late Bloomer as well as a scholarship from Women in Film recognizing outstanding young female filmmakers.

CONFESSIONS OF A LATE BLOOMER began its festival run at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film continued on to over 60 festivals worldwide, including the Cannes Short Film Corner where it was selected for a special screening in the Palais by film critic Michel Coulombe. It earned many awards and positive critical reviews and was purchased for distribution by Shorts International.

This year she co-wrote and directed the award-winning commercial COUCH THERAPY for client Viesso and has been selected as one of the few USC alumni for the upcoming program, USC First Team that fosters feature projects.

Jen works in Los Angeles as a production manager on commercials, which has allowed her to work alongside and build relationships with the industry’s top cinematographers,  production designers, crews and vendors. She is a regular contributor as the resident Independent Filmmaker to the website Film Industry Bloggers and an Executive Board Member of the Caucus Foundation Alumni Network.

Jen is currently is prepping the short BE STILL MY BEATING HEART with HBO producer, Jeannie Koenigsberg and is co writing THE MISSING CHILDREN'S CLUB, Jen’s fifth collaboration with partner, Philip Lott.

Courteney Cox gained overnight fame as she endeared herself to millions as the neurotic yet loveable Monica Gellar on NBC’s Emmy® Award winning comedy Friends. In 1996, Cox starred in Wes Craven's horror/comedy Scream and went on to reprise her role two additional times for the Scream Trilogy. Courteney’s additional film credits include 3000 Miles to Graceland, Mr. Destiny, Cocoon: The Return, Zoom, November, The Longest Yard and Barnyard. Cox was most recently seen in Disney’s family comedy Bedtime Stories starring opposite Adam Sandler.

In 2004, Courteney and husband David Arquette established their own production company, Coquette. Projects have included Dirt, the interior design show for cable’s WE (Women’s Entertainment) Network called Mix It Up, the comedy Daisy Does America for TBS and most recently, The Tripper, a horror film written and directed by David Arquette. This fall, Cox is scheduled to reteam with Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence on the new pilot Cougar Town for ABC.

In 2009, Courteney made the natural segue from producing into directing for Glamour’s Reel Moments Project. Monday Before Thanksgiving marks Cox’s directorial debut. Glamour Reel Moments is a series of three short films based on real women’s stories written by Glamour readers. The project benefits a women’s program for FilmAid International, an organization that uses the power of film to promote health, strengthen communities and enrich the lives of women around the world.

In addition to her work in front, and behind the camera, Courteney is also the face of the Avon Fragrance, Spotlight.

In 2004, Courteney and husband David Arquette established their own production company, Coquette. Projects have included Dirt, the interior design show for cable’s WE (Women’s Entertainment) Network called Mix It Up, the comedy Daisy Does America for TBS and most recently, The Tripper, a horror film written and directed by David Arquette. This fall, Cox is scheduled to reteam with Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence on the new pilot Cougar Town for ABC.

 In 2009, Courteney made the natural segue from producing into directing for Glamour’s Reel Moments Project. Monday Before Thanksgiving marks Cox’s directorial debut. Glamour Reel Moments is a series of three short films based on real women’s stories written by Glamour readers. The project benefits a women’s program for FilmAid International, an organization that uses the power of film to promote health, strengthen communities and enrich the lives of women around the world.

In addition to her work in front, and behind the camera, Courteney is also the face of the Avon Fragrance, Spotlight.

Jesse Erica Epstein grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. She received an MA in documentary film from NYU. Jesse was recently named “One of 25 filmmakers to watch” by Filmmaker Magazine.

Her films WET DREAMS AND FALSE IMAGES (Short Subject, Jury Award – Sundance Online Film Festival), and THE GUARANTEE (Best Short Film, Newport International Film Festival) are being distributed by New Day Films (www.newday.com).